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A skill is a written procedure the server can hand a model when a question matches it — which endpoints to call in which order, how to weigh conflicting signals, and how to format the result. It is loaded on demand rather than sitting in every prompt, for the same reason the tool schemas are discovered rather than enumerated. You do not invoke a skill directly. Ask the question; the server offers the matching skill.

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The one that matters most

gdelt-discover-and-drill encodes the habit this API rewards: start wide, then narrow into what the summary actually showed. A narrow first query returns an empty result that reads as “nothing happened” when it means “these filters intersected to nothing” — and a model with no procedure will usually take the empty result at face value. The same loop written out by hand is in Answer a question with MCP.

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Briefs

Brief skills produce a structured, cited output — a lede that answers the question, the evidence under it, and an explicit statement of what is not known. The citation format is part of the skill precisely so that a claim without a source cannot be produced silently. Briefs require the can_use_briefs entitlement — see the error reference for what a request without it returns.

External tools

The third-party providers some skills reach for, and what they are and are not.